Measles are THE most contagious disease known to man.
If you have not have them before or have not got the vaccine, and get in contact with sick person, you WILL get them.
Luckily, they are not that much to worry. When I was young, everybody was the measles survivor. They just came to town, everybody who have not got them before, got them. And eventually the virus run out of possible subjects and died out. Few years later, the situation repeated itself.
Basically something like flu with major rash over the body. week or two and no problem!
I honestly do not remember anybody who got any long term problems from them. Just an annoying part of the life in that time.
Yes, it’s super contagious. My mother made sure I got the measles when I was a tiny tot. Right before the vaccine became available. It was standard practice back then.
In undeveloped countries, children do die, though, lots of them:
https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-020-01011-6
Deafness blindness and death are all possible outcomes
The sickest I’ve ever been is with measles
I seem to recall that Measles are not a huge issue if contracted as a child.
In an adult, however, it is very bad news. Could be wrong on that.
My first inklings (among other things) that the national government was completely out to lunch, was about 30 years ago, when it became apparent they had no concern whatsoever about hordes of unvaccinated, unvetted people from who knows where pouring across the border en masse and being deposited in school districts across the nation. A complete dereliction of their duty right there.
If you got measles as kid with a healthy immune system usually you’ll do fine, although you’ll probably average being sicker than with the other ‘routine childhood viruses.’ But if you get it first when you’re older, sicker or when your immune system is otherwise not full strength it does kill some and certainly can knock healthy folks for a loop. Of the ‘old world’ diseases imported to the ‘new world’ it probably killed the next month after smallpox (itself once the worst of the ‘routine childhood viruses.’)